


Clap, Keep Running

by silver-shock (DrowningInStarlight)



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 07:37:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17300507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrowningInStarlight/pseuds/silver-shock
Summary: Keep running, they say.





	Clap, Keep Running

Keep running, they say. You hear it whispered over and over, rustling through the desert like wind in the dune grass. "Keep running," a 'joy says to their companion, as they split up outside Dr D's. "I'll see you back here, but if I don't, keep running." No one says goodbyes in the Zones, but you recognise one when you hear it. 

Everyone says it. You see the words graffitied on walls to piss off the Dracs, you feel them scratched on metal as a mark or a claim, you catch glimpses of them inked on skin as a permanent reminder not even Battery City can take away. They're a constant echo, and you hear them now as you lie face down, breathing hot sand. The Dracs are surrounding you, you lost your gang back on the Getaway Mile. The air smells sharp, like laser fire, and this is it. 

There's no getting away this time, this is _it_ , and all you can hear is the words. They've kept you alive before, kept so many alive before, but you can't run anymore. Your legs ache. The sand in your mouth is gritty and choking, you can taste blood in the back of your throat, and you can't run, not this time, you've been running for so long... 

The Dracs close in around you. You can hear their footsteps, feel them vibrate through the sand. _This is it._ You close your stinging eyes, each painful breathe a prayer to whoever is listening, _don't let me be lost. Find me, lead me home. Don't let me be lost._

One of the Dracs laughs. They laugh, and you realise distantly they're laughing at you. They're _laughing_ at you, and you may be fallen, may be broken, but you're still a killjoy and no one _ever_ gets to take that away from you. 

_Keep running._

You crawl to your feet. Everything hurts, the sand is bitter under your tongue, you push yourself up off the ground, staggering, standing. 

_Keep running._

You find your laser gun, shoved clumsily in your belt. You'd had to stash it there earlier, when you'd needed both hands for driving, but you take it now. It's warm under your hands, a warning-- _not this time_. The Dracs are still staring, time is slowed. Your boots slip on the sand, struggling to grip for what could be an eternity, feels like an eternity, can't be an eternity because now you're turning and-- 

_Keep running._

You run.


End file.
